1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to an instrument sharpening system, and, in particular, to an automated knife sharpening and cleaning system that efficiently treats and prepares knives for use within the food-preparation industry, or other applicable industries.
2. State of the Art
The food preparation/processing industry is largely responsible for transforming raw ingredients into food or transforming food into other forms for consumption by humans. Food preparation/processing typically incorporates taking harvested yields, such as crops, or taking butchered animal products, such as beef or chicken, and using these raw resources to produce the finished goods and products that we conveniently find in our local grocer, or other food distribution facility, whether the finished products be canned goods or freshly-available items.
Principally, within the meat preparation/processing industry, but also within other applicable industries, the instruments used by meat carvers to prepare and treat any of the butchered animal products must meet certain performance and sanitation requirements and must perform to the satisfaction of the meat preparer. If not so, the instrument is of little value to the meat preparer and to the industry at large. Without top quality instruments, the efficiency of the meat preparation/processing industry is frustrated and, as a result, the time required to satisfy the required output of prepared meat is necessarily extended and profits are accordingly reduced.
Cutting knives, in particular, are perhaps the most important instrument of any of the instruments available to the meat preparer. A cutting knife that effortlessly and precisely cuts through the butchered meat products allows the meat preparer to efficiently and consistently cut the desired portions of meat required by the industry at large, the distributor, or the local butcher. Such a knife is at least clean and satisfactorily sharp. Without such a knife, the portions of meat cut by a dull knife may be messy, unsatisfactory, unattractive, and may not meet the requirements for distribution and sale to the public.
To keep a cutting knife sharp and clean, sharpeners have been invented to sharpen meat preparation knives that become dirty and dull through use. However, these conventional sharpeners usually require manual operation, which results in one knife being sharpened by the operator at any one time. In many instances, at meat preparation facilities around the world, the number of knives waiting to be sharpened is greater than the capacity of the operator to sharpen the dull knives, even when more than one sharpener is operational. The result is that many meat carvers/preparers use duller knives to prepare meat rather than a clean and sharp knife, because either a freshly cleaned and sharpened knife is unavailable or it would take too long to have their dull and dirty knife cleaned and sharpened. Consequently, by using dirty and dull knives, the quality and sanitation of prepared meat products suffers and the speed and efficiency of individual meat carvers/prepares is reduced.
In view of the above, there is a need in the meat preparation/processing industry for a knife sharpening system that is capable of efficiently and effectively sharpening, cleaning, oiling and sanitizing cutting knives to keep up with and satisfy the demands of the industry.